Downton Abbey Wiki talk:Canon information
Actors opinions. Whilst we were discussing the writing of this policy the topic of actors views on their character came up. In this section: Forum:What_is_canon_and_good_citations/references#A_third_proposal.2C_to_your_consideration User:Seth Cooper stated the following :Actors' views on their characters are to be disregarded. As an actor, one may have a particular view on the character, or a drive that is used to convey what the author of the work wants to see in that character, but that doesn't make it the character's drive. I agree with this view and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to clarify the wikis stance on this in this policy so there is no confusion on our stance on this point. As well as the actors views on their characters I think we perhaps we also need to state if we take what the actors say about upcoming series as canon. What I'm talking about is when actors are interviewed and give hints/info on the plots and what is going to happen to their character. Should this be taken as canon? What about what the actors interviews in Press Packs, should this be taken as canon? I'm inclined to think not. Partly because of what Seth Cooper before said and partly because actors may give inaccurate or misleading info to protect the plot lines. --Amateur Obsessive (talk) 20:15, September 18, 2013 (UTC) : I think their interviews should be, but with a pinch of salt; maybe under a "semi-canon" heading until the series actually airs. HarryPotterRules1 (talk) 23:30, September 19, 2013 (UTC) :: I'm not sure that a "semi-canon" category would be that helpful to be honest, I think it would be confusing for people and it's still not really making our stance on interviews clear. :: Does this mean you agree that actors views on their characters should not be canon? Because we could always just add this to the policy and leave interviews to be perhaps decided on at a later date. Amateur Obsessive (talk) 14:40, September 20, 2013 (UTC) ::: I agree that they should not be canon, before ''the show broadcasts; after the show, we can go back and re-read them - to see if the actors were honest and if they were, ''then make them cannon. HarryPotterRules1 (talk) 16:22, September 20, 2013 (UTC) ::::I think that the actors don't necessarily have any special knowledge of their characters motivations or backstory - the majority of the time it's simply speculation on their part. It's part of what many actors do when playing a part - they imagine a backstory or motivation to help them play the role. So including what they say - even it isn't contradicted by canon, isn't really helpful and can be misleading. To take a purely hypothetical example, if an actor says, "my character was born in 1880 and has 3 sisters, they're nasty and spiteful because they had a hard childhood" - that doesn't make it true. Not even if what they say isn't contradicted by canon. --Amateur Obsessive (talk) 18:39, September 20, 2013 (UTC) ::::We need to take it with a pinch of salt; do remember that J.K. Rowling told Alan Rickman Snape's backstory early on in filming; it's possible, though not revealed, that Julian Fellowes may have done the same. It's possible that he told Maggie Smith that Violet's mother-in-law was jealous of her daughter-in-law for being the future countess of Grantham while she (being merely a mrs or Viscount) would never be Countess (if we go with Rober being the 5th Earl). HarryPotterRules1 (talk) 03:45, November 9, 2013 (UTC) ::::::We can't "take things with a pinch of salt", we need to rely on facts. Also, what J.K did has absolutely no relevance here. Amateur Obsessive (talk) 09:35, November 10, 2013 (UTC)